🔄 CENTRIPETAL FORCE
PAGE 1 OF 5, WHAT IS CENTRIPETAL FORCE?
CENTER-SEEKING
ANYTHING MOVING IN A CIRCLE NEEDS A CENTER-SEEKING FORCE
Imagine whirling a ball on a string. The ball wants to fly off in a straight line because of inertia, but the string pulls it inward toward your hand. That inward pull is centripetal force, from the Latin centrum (center) and petere (to seek). It is not a new kind of magic force. It is whatever real force (tension, friction, gravity) keeps an object turning instead of shooting off in a straight line. Without it, circular motion is impossible.
⚡ DID YOU KNOW?
Centripetal force always points toward the center of the circle. It is the force that changes the direction of velocity, not the speed (for uniform circular motion).
INWARD!
INERTIA WANTS STRAIGHT
➡️ Objects resist direction changes
→ Tangent line = where it wants to go
🔄 Force bends the path into a curve
→ Tangent line = where it wants to go
🔄 Force bends the path into a curve
NOT CENTRIFUGAL
❌ "Centrifugal" is not a real force
→ You feel pushed outward in a spin
✅ Physics: inward centripetal pulls you
→ You feel pushed outward in a spin
✅ Physics: inward centripetal pulls you